Testing Younger Women for Osteoporosis

Published: March 9, 1997

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A year and a half ago, Mrs. Mucciolo began drug therapy and since that time has had no fractures. Normally, she said, she would have fractured every three or four months. Ms. Langhorst recently began drug therapy and is hopeful that her decline has also been halted.

But Alendronate has only been around for three years, and while it appears safe and with minimal side effects, doctors say they cannot know for sure what the long term effects will be.

Dr. Gruber said that in the future, Alendronate may be taken as a preventative drug by people at risk. Moreover, even more powerful drugs show promise. Some may only need to be taken by injection every three months.

At Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, an osteoporosis diagnostic and treatment center and a related support group has been in existence for 20 years. Patients learn how to obtain proper calcium and vitamin D without compromising cholesterol and fat intake and how to read and understand labels on supplements. Exercise programs are tailored to individual needs and abilities.

Dr. John Aloia, director of the center, said that he had seen a marked change in the perception of osteoporosis over the last few years, with more than 2,000 people a year coming in just for bone density testing.

''Ten to 15 years ago, this was a disease where you went to an orthopedist who told you it was just a part of getting older and there was nothing you could do about it,'' said Dr. Aloia. ''I think as people become aware that is not true, they take a more proactive stance in prevention and treatment.''

Although bone mass loss is part of the aging process, Dr. Jordan Tobin, chief of applied physiology for the National Institute of Aging, said that not all bone loss meant osteoporosis.

Unless one bone density test is measured against another, there is no way of knowing just how much or how quickly the loss is occurring. Accelerated loss, which begins after menopause, lasts for 10 to 15 years. After that it slows, but continues throughout life. Dr. Tobin said the problem was that by the time it slowed, so much damage might have been done, that the risk for fractures had dramatically increased. A proponent of hormone replacement therapy, Dr. Tobin said estrogen could prevent that acceleration for a decade or more.

Long before menopause, he said, women should be thinking about osteoporosis, because during childbearing years they can do the most to minimize the effects of later bone mass loss.

''Building bone mass while young is the most important preventative step you can take to preventing osteoporosis,'' said Dr. Tobin. ''We've said often that the best way to treat the mother is to treat the daughter as well.''

Photos: A bone densitometry shows the density of a spine; At Winthrop Hospital, Sharon R. Sprintz runs a bone densitometry on Selma Stutchbury. (Photographs by Vic DeLucia/The New York Times)